I thought I would share the replacement method for the 18/19 Terrain/Nox rear Rotors and Pads.

The vehicle has just over 30 thousand KM or 18 Thousand miles which is not a lot for rear brake replacement. About 3k km ago, I noticed that the rear rotors had 3 concentric rings grooved into them.
As I was changing the vehicle over to snows I figured I would change them out. I had already been to the dealer and all they were going to do was machine the rotors and I would have to pay for the pads and spring clips, approx. 600 dollars parts and labour and because of the strike I would need to wait a month or so. So I told them politely to Go Forth and Multiply and then left.

I picked up a set of Raybestos rust free rotors and ceramic pads for about 75 dollars all in.

The fun now begins. You need the following to do this job. For the caliper slides a 13 mm socket and a 18mm thin wrench to put on the flat as you turn the 13 mm bolt. Unlike some vehicles there is no 'hinge' so both 13mm bolts have to come out. You have to move the caliper around the lower control arm as the actuator motor for the parking brake is attached as well as its connector.

The Caliper bracket is a bear to do on the ground. They are 18mm bolts that are very long and will take many turns to remove. Leave which one you did first in very loosely otherwise the bracket is going to move a lot when you are trying to remove the other one. Its best to use a 12 point socket and a breaker bar to get things started. There is not a lot of room to move that breaker bar.
On install later it will need to be torqued to 77 ft pounds. There is no room for an impact or small impact to fit.

Once you have removed the Caliper bracket, then take a T30 Torx and insert into the screw on the rotor. Once you get this off, the rotor then comes off.

Clean around the hub, so no runout can occur and then remove the old clips from the caliper bracket and insert new grease with proper lube slightly and put back onto the vehicle in the reverse order. The inboard pad has the squeal clip and it faces down. The pads are shimmed and you may have to remove a layer of shims to get the caliper to fit back over the pads.

Now for the good news. The Caliper does not need to be retracted as long as the parking brake is not set. The piston on the caliper does have a couple of slots in it to twist back into the bore but you need to remove the actuator for that and it only has two bolts that hold it in.

Once you have finished and installed the tire then don't forget to pump the brakes with the engine off to obtain a firm pedal and then engage the parking brake and then release. Viola you now have new pads and rotors. Please take all due care when jacking the vehicle and have a stand under when working as you may need to slide under the rear to see that bottom caliper bolt.

Happy repairing.

Nice write-up, eh !

I also have one of those "rings" on my rear left rotor..... weird

Wow- 18,000 miles.



Recently checked pads on out 2013.

Now @ 90,000 miles- and all looks good.
Like others have mentioned- the REARS are more worn than the fronts.
But still good for a while.

We get more rust in the first month of ownership than you have a 7 years of ownership.

The benefits of living in Canada.

Thanks for the write up..

Just 3,600mi. on our 19' terrain and have the ring on the left rear rotor.

Thanks for the comments, the strange thing about these rotors are that the rings are raised on the rotor and are perfect circles. The pads have the same grooves worn in them to match. I can post pics if I don't have to create an account at photobucket or something. The other thing about these pads were they had tons of life left on them and should have gone as the others have said 100k at least. The new rotors are ceramic coated for rust protection so we will see how long they really last in our salt and that crappy brine they put on the road.

I do like this quote .. Can be very fitting at times.

Since those grooves are raised on the rotor, I wonder if a rock or something got in there and took a little chunk out of a pad to start the whole thing